Articles by Philip Bates

When he’s not watching television, reading books ‘n’ Marvel comics, listening to The Killers, and obsessing over script ideas, Philip Bates pretends to be a freelance writer. He enjoys collecting everything.

And now it’s time for one last bow, like all your other selves. Eleven’s Hour is over now. The clock is striking Twelve’s. It’s the final day of festivities and trees throughout the land are coming down. Despite all the lights being relegated to lofts and garages, we’re more than halfway out of the dark….

Doctor Who Adventures, the biggest-selling UK pre-teen magazine, is giving away a free life-sized Dalek, worth more than £3,000! Just imagine walking into your house to see a Dalek looming in the hallway, or exterminating dinner in the kitchen! Yes, I think we’ve all wanted a Dalek or two in our lifetimes. It take s…

A Christmas Carol star, Katherine Jenkins, is among the 2014 Honours List. The singer, whose first acting job was as Abigail in the 2010 Doctor Who special opposite Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor and Michael Gambon as Kazran Sardick, will be awarded an OBE for her services to music and for her charity work. She said: “I share…

For 48 hours only, you can download the Fourth Doctor adventure, The Renaissance Man, for just £2.99. As part of their Big Finish-mas, the audio company are offering numerous titles at discounted prices until Twelfth Night. Each download is only available at a special price for 48 hours… meaning you’ll have to get The Renaissance Man – starring…

We all know that Series 8, which is due to screen in Autumn 2014, will be a bit different – but we might be surprised by how much. Steven Moffat recently said that the direction of the next run will be something new… but it’ll still be business as usual: “It changes all the time,…

The music from the 50th anniversary docudrama, An Adventure in Space and Time, will be released in 2014. The 90-minute special charted the origins of Doctor Who, following Verity Lambert (played by Hide’s Jessica Raine) and then David Bradley as First Doctor, William Hartnell. After near-universally positive reviews, writer, Mark Gatiss (The Unquiet Dead; Cold…

Tonight, silence will fall. Matt Smith, the Eleventh Doctor, regenerates in The Time of the Doctor, written by Steven Moffat. He first appeared in 2010, the youngest actor to take on the role, making his debut briefly in The End of Time before announcing himself properly as the Doctor in The Eleventh Hour. In three…